Miyoung swung out so fast that Sinhye didn’t have time to react. Her fist connected with Sinhye’s temple and sent her careening onto the bed, knocked out cold.
“No. You shouldn’t push me,” Miyoung said.
47
JUNU WOKE SLOWLY, reaching out for Somin. But the bed beside him was empty and cold.
He shuffled into the hallway, turning at the sound of low, murmuring voices. Miyoung and Somin sat at the kitchen table, both cradling steaming mugs of boricha. But neither drank. Junu was about to join them, when Miyoung said, “What are you going to do about Junu?”
“I don’t know what to do for him. I didn’t realize how much he’s kept bottled inside. It scares me a little,” Somin said.
Junu flattened himself against the wall, melting back into the shadows of the hallway.
“He lived for centuries before he met either of us. There’s no knowing what ghosts he carries with him.”
“Sometimes I can forget that he’s lived through so much. Then I’m reminded of it in the way he talks or the way he thinks, and I worry that we just come from different times. Maybe too different. I know how to fight a lot of things, but I don’t know how to fight that.”
Miyoung gave a sad smile. “Immortality is a heavy burden to carry. For immortals and for the people who love them.”
“Is that why you didn’t want to be a gumiho anymore? Because you knew it would be too hard for you and Jihoon if you were?”
Miyoung let out a bitter laugh. “I don’t know. I didn’t give up that life just for Jihoon. I did it for me. But I like imagining what it would be like to grow old with him. To grow old at all.”
“Sinhye can’t hold on to him forever. We’ll find a way to get her out of Jihoon.”
“She has so much hate in her for Junu. It makes her powerful,” Miyoung whispered. “I’m scared she’d rather destroy herself and Jihoon before she lets go of him.”
“We won’t let her do that,” Somin said. “Jihoon’s not just my friend. He’s my family. I can’t lose him.”
“We won’t,” Miyoung insisted. “I won’t let him go. I’ll do whatever it takes.”
“We all have to do whatever it takes,” Somin said.
Junu slipped away, no longer comfortable listening in. There was a low pressure in his chest. Equal parts worry and guilt. He doubted anyone had ever spoken about him with the conviction they had when they spoke of Ahn Jihoon. But then again, had he ever done anything to earn such loyalty? Such love?
She has so much hate in her for Junu. It makes her powerful. Miyoung was right. Sinhye wouldn’t be hurting them all if not for Junu and her hatred for him. He’d brought this on them all. He was the reason for their pain.
Frustration filled him as he shoved his hands into his pockets. His fingers brushed the edge of a business card, and he pulled it out. He was still wearing the same clothes he’d worn to the amusement park yesterday. It was the card from the little girl. The mystery number she’d been so confident he’d call. When you find hidden the one that seeks to harm, you’ll call.
The hidden one that seeks to harm. Sinhye.
Junu cursed under his breath. And he took out his phone to call the number.
48
JUNU SAT ON the bench at the bus stop, glancing up and down the road every time a car approached. It was late enough that he’d missed rush hour, but early enough that the sun still hung low in the sky. Junu wondered, not for the first time, what he was doing here. But like every other time, he reminded himself that there was only one day left to help Miyoung. He had to do something. And he waited some more as he tapped the business card against his leg.
“You’re prompt.”
The woman was younger than he’d been expecting, but perhaps still old enough to be called a halmeoni. She had white streaks in her black hair. Her face was so thin that her cheekbones were prominent under her tan skin. There was something vaguely familiar about her, but Junu couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
“I’ve never gotten such an . . . interesting message before,” Junu said, still trying to place the woman in his memory and drawing